Monday, January 30, 2017

Al Repp, Then & Now

I’ve been by Repp’s Bar a couple times the last couple weekends. I love the place. Part of the reason is that you can get Warsteiner’s Premium Verum there. Mostly, though, it’s because of the bar’s owner, Al Repp.

This past weekend when I was there, Al brought out some of his old pictures. One in the bunch immediately grabbed me. Here’s our man Al Repp, circa 1945. He was about six when this was taken outside of the Repp Tavern when it was run by his father, Alvin.

Check out all those wooden beer cases. Rahr of Oshkosh and the Oshkosh Brewing Company are well represented. I’m a little surprised there aren’t any cases from Peoples Brewing in the mix. Repp’s was a prime outlet for Peoples Beer during this time. Here’s a picture of the Repp Tavern from the same period. The Peoples banner is flying strong.

I was going to include a picture of Al that I took this last weekend. Then I remembered a photo my friend Frankie Mengeling posted back in 2010 on her blog, Riding the Tavern Beer Trail. It’s a great picture of Al with a shot of his father Alvin looking over his shoulder.

Today the inside of Repp’s looks pretty much like it did when Al Repp took over the business from his father in the 1960s. The tavern itself has been there since 1903. It’s a living slice of Oshkosh history. Better than that, it’s a comfortable inviting place where the owner is happy to see you walk through the door and treats everyone like a friend. You ought to go check it out.